Chapter Twenty-Five: Try To Be A Bit More Careful

Autumn was at its height as the skies were showered with the goldens and reds of falling leaves.  The first holiday of the school year, Halloween, was just a week away, instilling a sense of excitement amongst all the students.  The colors of fall reflected off Natalia's hair as she ran across the chilly courtyard into the center wing of the school.  She descended the stairs, eager to begin her first day of Offense Against The Dark Arts training with the Potions Professor.  In her haste, she ran directly into a tall person, smashing her face into his chest.  Flailing her arms a bit, she fell down on the cold ground, feeling the bruises already spreading.  A hand was offered to her.

"Do try to be more careful next time."

She smiled sheepishly at the Potions Master as she gave him her hand.  He pulled her up, and in doing so, extracted a yelp from the girl.  He looked at her, slightly irritated.

"What now?"

Natalia shoved her hand behind her back.

"Nothing, it is just my finger, it was–"

"Stop blubbering and let me see it."

She gave him a look and extended her hand.  Scowling, he examined the makeshift splint around her little finger.

"What is this, Miss Slytherin?  Some kind of Muggle contraption?"

The girl blushed feverishly, unable to hide the embarrassment from her face.

"Well, when I – my finger, it broke."

The professor raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously.  How did you go about doing a clumsy thing like this and not even think about going to Madame Pomfrey?"

She looked to the ground, studying her shoes.

"Well, you see, it was broken when I – when, well, while I gave you the Unicorn's Blood that one day, you – well, this happened.  And I did not want to go through the process of explaining it to Madame Pomfrey."

The professor's cheeks turned slightly peach from embarrassment.  He looked at the girl's poor finger as a hint of a smile played on his lips.

"I see…well, I apologize for that.  If you had told me, I would have –"

"Could you fix it for me?" she whispered softly.

"I was going to tell you that I would before you interrupted me."  He looked pointedly at her.  "Come on."  He opened the Potions door and let her in. 

Unwrapping the clumsy bandaging, he exposed Natalia's slightly shrunken finger.  Shaking his head in disapproval, he said,

"This is what happens when you try to heal injuries the Muggle way."  He got up and went to the shelf, getting a bottle of Skele-Gro.  Pouring a steaming beaker-full into a glass, he handed it to her.  "Drink up."  She poured the liquid down her throat, flinching slightly at the burn.  The Professor took the glass from her and sat back down. 

"That should do the job.  However, we do not have all day to sit around and wait for your finger to heal."  He took out his wand and tapped her finger lightly.  "Redintegro."  Natalia felt a sharp splintering pain run through her finger, but after a minute, she was able to move it again. 

"Thank you, professor."

Snape nodded slightly. 

"This is how today's training will proceed: I will be teaching you on Hogwarts' grounds until supper, and after, Professor Austerus will take you into the Forest to test your new abilities."

The girl frowned, moderately surprised.

"The Forest?  Tonight?  Won't you be coming too?"

The professor rolled his eyes again.

"Miss Slytherin, how a girl like you can have a memory so poor will always elude me.  I cannot depart from Hogwarts for my own safety."  He waved his hand back as if gesturing to an invisible demon.  "I can assure you that your trip into the Forest will be completely safe.  Professor Austerus has had much…experience in the woods."  Looking at Natalia, he got back up again.  "However, for the next hour, you will be learning to sharpen your senses for detecting Dark Magic.  I have hidden five objects in the dungeons, excluding the dormitories, that have a certain Dark Magic cast on them.  Your task will be to find these items within an hour.  When you finish this assignment, you will find me in the Astronomy Tower."  With that, he left the dungeons.

Natalia sat in the chair long after the Potions Master left.  Not knowing what to do with herself, she slowly began to amble around the room.  She traced the edges of the shelves with her finger as she walked by them, letting her eyes wander idly around her surroundings.  A glint of white caught her eye.  Moving toward the cabinet in the back, she saw a snow globe sitting in the corner.  Smiling to herself, she went to pick it up, musing at how a dour man like the professor could possess a snow globe.  It was a small globe, barely the size of her palm, the bottom covered with layers of powdered snow and a lone tree that sprung out from the middle.  Delighted with the trinket, she shook it up, causing a snowstorm in the globe.  Looking closer, she saw something at the trunk of the tree.  It must have been covered by the snow, she thought.  Peering closer, she looked through the flurry of white to distinguish the speck by the tree.  As her nose came close to touching the glass, a sudden pair of tiny hands pressed against it, bringing with it a face and a row of deadly sharp teeth.  She sprang back, placing the snow globe back on the cabinet.  Looking cautiously from a distance, she saw a dark pixie chained to the tree, gnashing its teeth while flailing its arms wildly in the invisible wind.  The girl could hear muffled shrieks coming from inside the glass.  I guess I have found my first item.

After a good half hour, the professor's desk was littered with four dark magic items, ranging from imprisoned pixies to shrunken heads.  Natalia paced around the room, her senses raw from detecting the previous four items.  Flinching at the slightest sound, she wearily recalled the places she had looked for the fifth item.  She had looked in every inch of his classroom, the office, even in the hallways, but found nothing.  She sat back down again in defeat.  Perhaps he would be content with just four items…No, she thought, I have to find the last one…though I wonder where I have not looked yet.  She got up again and meandered through the dungeons.  Her feet led her to Snape's chambers, where she paused at the door, not knowing whether she should go in or not.  Curiosity got to the better of her, and she entered his chambers quietly, careful not to disturb anything.  She walked into a room very much like her own, although his was considerably smaller.  There was a slightly sweet smell in the room, and her nose led her to the plate of crumpets beside his bed.  She grinned, marveling at the professor's versatile personality traits.  Her stomach growled in eagerness as she approached the plate.  She took the one on the top and tore it in half, causing a dark liquid to ooze out as Natalia dropped the muffin on the ground in disgust.  From the center of the crumpet slithered out a slimy flesh-eating slug.  She frowned as she whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa", causing the slug to rise off the ground and float before her.  She led it out to the office, where she levitated the rest of the items and headed off to the Astronomy Tower. 

The Potions Master sat at the window of the tower, dangling his legs out over the edge as his eyes followed wisps of clouds in the pinkened sky.  His face was wrought with raw pain as he finally allowed his emotions to seep out from under his carefully constructed façade.  He remembered how once long ago, he wished that life would last longer.  That had been decades ago.  Now, for nearly as long as he could remember, he had wished that life would be shortened, before the abyss of loneliness that dwelled in his soul ate him up completely.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that what heart he had, had given out long ago.  He learned that one could function for an incredible amount of time in numbness, going through the process of each day in an emotionless, removed manner.  But now that this had happened…He closed his eyes, not wanting to bear the thought of having to live a thousand years more.  No, he thought, I have a purpose now, I must teach the girl all I that I know.  He raised his eyes to the sky again, leaning his head on the edge.  Natalia…perhaps she was the one person that understood.  He had noticed that she too, lived each day in silent remorse, wishing that life's end would soon greet her.  She too, knew the pain of bearing the burden of guilt for other's deaths on her hands.  The professor closed his eyes, sighing deeply.  There was an understanding between them, something that friendship, love – even hate, could never bring about.  They each had an acute sense for what the other felt, and had enough of a silent deference between them to give each other space, and yet still had genuine concern for the other. 

            "Professor,"

            He turned around, seeing the very girl herself, and nearly chuckled at the sight of all the dark objects floating behind her.

            "I see you were successful in finding all the items." he said with a small smirk.

            She mimicked his trademark roll of the eye.  "Yes, and I quite enjoyed your slug-infested crumpets." she replied, taking a seat across from him on the ledge.  A silence settled on them and only the muffled cries from the pixie were heard.  The setting sun reflected on both their eyes, illuminating the golden tones of autumn that stretched out beneath them.  The professor parted his lips to form a question.

            "Natalia, why don't you play Quidditch?"

            She smiled amusedly at him.

            "Why do you only sometimes call me Natalia, and other times Miss Slytherin?"

            He rolled his eyes.

            "Formalities, Miss Slytherin, formalities."  His eyes turned to the sky.  "Are you going to answer the question?"

            Her smile widened.

            "Formalities, professor, formalities.  What would Salazar Slytherin say if he found his granddaughter playing a ruffian's game?"

            The Potions Master smirked.

            "What would he say if he found his granddaughter ruining other students' fencing uniforms?"

            Natalia frowned, looking at the professor with agitation. 

            "He deserved it."

            "And you are one to judge?"

            Her frown deepened, surprised at his response.

            "How can you defend him, professor?  Draco has bound you to Mab.  I do not think I need to remind you of the direness of the situation."

            He leant back on the stone ledge, closing his eyes from the pastel sky. 

            "Natalia," he started softly, almost in a gentle whisper, "Have you ever thought that perhaps he never means to do what he does?"  The professor opened his eyes.  "His father is a very demanding person.  Draco has not lived a single day in his life where Lucius did not expect him to uphold the Malfoy ways.  His entire life and future has been formed to be one of a Death Eater's.  Though, I think," he looked at Natalia with empathy in his eyes, "That you and I both know he has no desire to follow this path.  In the end, he is as tied to his duty as a Malfoy as you are to the Shangri-La."

            The girl gazed out to the lush golden-red Forest, contemplating the words of the professor.  He got up and turned to Natalia.

            "Don't forget to go to dinner." he said, giving the girl a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.

            In the opposite end of the Forest, two figures walked side by side in a thick grove.  A tall woman strolled through the woods accompanied by a hooded man.

            "I need you to find the Graeae's Eye for me." he said in a low hiss. 

            The woman smiled, turning to the man.

            "If I remember correctly, there is a dwarf in the middle of the Forbidden Forest who knows the whereabouts of the Graeae's Eye."

            "Yes," he hissed, "And I need it by tonight."

            "Why," she asked, raising a curious eyebrow, "Do you need this item so desperately?"

            "Do not question me, Mab," the man growled, "The Graeae's Eye is the only way I can track the bearer of the Shangri-La."

            "Ah…" Mab said with a smirk, "I see.  Well, then I must excuse myself to go fetch it."  Saying this, she disappeared, leaving a low black flame burning on the ground where she had stood.

            A beautiful Victorian cottage lay in the middle of the Forest.  Next to it was a dilapidated shack, barely a quarter of the size of the cottage.  Mab approached the cottage, smiling at the tastefulness at which everything was built.  Knocking on the thick oak door, she waited patiently for a reply.  A voice drifted from the shack.

            "Give me a minute, I'll be right out!" said a rough, cheery voice.

            Out hobbled a small red-haired man.  His scraggly hair trailed down to his waist, as did his thick, tangled beard.  Two delighted brown eyes smiled out at the woman from behind a face covered with unkempt hair.

            "Well, look here, it's a lass!  It isn't every day that I get a visitor!"  He picked a fist-sized rock from the ground and popped it into his mouth.  Crunching it like popcorn between his teeth, he said, "Mm…the rocks are juicy today.  Would you like one?"  Mab declined politely, shaking her head.

            "What is your name, dwarf?"

            After swallowing, he replied, "My name is Revvv…"  He went on in this manner, before releasing a series of low guttural clicks, and then smiled at a point exactly seven inches to the left of Mab's head.  The woman frowned.

            "Right.  Well, I need to know where the Graeae's Eye is kept, dwarf."

            "Of course, of course!" the dwarf replied cheerfully.  "Come, come, please, come in."  He led her into the shack, gesturing to the perplexed faire to sit.  "You might as well make yourself useful while you're here."

            "Why don't you live in the cottage?" she asked.

            He laughed a high-pitched "Hee, hee, hee" laugh.

            "My, my, you are a funny one."  He smiled at her.  "Now, you want to know about the Graeae's Eye?"

            A bear bounded in with four fishes in its mouth.  The dwarf turned his attention to the bear.

            "Ah, Paipie!  Thank you for getting dinner." he said, taking the fish from the animal.  He took Mab by the hand and led her outside.

            "My dear," he started, "Please go get some wood so we can cook the fishies."  He hobbled over to the fire pit and began stacking rocks next to it.  Mab scowled.

            "What are you doing, dwarf?"

            "We can't have stew without water!" he cried gleefully.

            She rolled her eyes and left to get wood.  By Sc«thach, he was crazy.

            Upon the rising moon, the Dryad and the Slytherin Heir weaved their way through the forest, stopping near a stream.  The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ran her fingers in the cold water, refreshed from being back in her own element.  Her voice drifted into the trees like a nightingale's song.

            "Natalia, during the afternoon, I hid ten things involved with the Dark Arts in the Forest.  Your assignment for tonight," she looked at the girl with her mauve eyes, seeing that she was listening intently, "Will be to find these items within three hours."

            Natalia looked at her professor inquisitively.

            "Will you be with me?"

            "No, Natalia," the woman replied, "You have to be alone to sharpen your sense.  However, I can assure you that no harm will come to you."  She gestured with her hands to the woods, saying softly, "The trees will watch over you."

            For hours, the girl let her feet wander cautiously around the Forest, hoping that she would not run into any Death Eaters or Ignes.  Six items already trailed behind her, floating like the devil's parade.  As she walked toward the middle of the Forest, she felt a shadow creep over her senses, warning her to tread carefully.  She sighed, relieved that she had sensed yet another article.  Reaching a rocky clearing, she saw a beautiful Victorian cottage with a dingy shack by its side.  A light flickered from within the hut, beckoning Natalia forward.  The dread in her heart grew with each step.  She looked around, hoping that Austerus knew where she was.  Suddenly, she realized that there was not a single tree in the clearing for at least five miles.  Anxiety filled her like a dry sponge soaks up water.  Panicking, she quickly walked to the shack, hoping to get the seventh item and hurry out of the clearing.  As she was about to knock, she heard a jovial man's voice say from inside,

            "Would you mind going to Paipie?  The ol' bear needs someone to sing him to sleep."

            Natalia heard a bit of grumbling come from another voice.  Just as she raised her hand to knock, the door gave way, opening to show a tall woman.  Both of them took a step back in shock, as Natalia came face to face with Mab.